Editorial: School drills should be closely monitored

Thursday, March 21, 2013

School drills should beclosely monitored

If an adult tells a child to adopt an important habit such as ďlook both ways,Ē itís a good idea to monitor the child to see if the child is complying. Without being watched, maybe the child is not complying.

If state laws require school districts to conduct drills in case of fire, tornado or lockdowns in case a shooter is on the loose, perhaps the state should watch to see if the districts are doing what they are told.

State laws require K-12 schools to conduct a total of 10 drills during the school year -- six for fire, two for lockdowns and two for tornadoes.

With little or no monitoring, compliance has been iffy.

Schools are also required to document the drills.

A recent investigation of several hundred Michigan schools conducted by journalists at mlive.com showed that school officials arenít required to forward the documentation to anyone. State and local officials who might have an interest in compliance donít check the records.

Some of the findings were ludicrous. Besides schools being unable to show records that they conducted the drills, some listed drills were conducted on days when there was no school. Grand Rapids and Midland schools reported drills on Saturdays or Sundays.

A Flint high school, the report said, listed one during spring break, and a Royal Oak middle school listed one for a Saturday in the future.

School officials attributed the discrepancies to clerical errors.

It would be more realistic to attribute the discrepancies to lack of concern and interest at the bottom and lack of supervision at every level.

Remembering back to our own drills for fire, tornado and nuclear attack -- if weíre old enough -- every drill was disruptive. It may be a welcome break for kids, but itís a headache for teachers and administrators and

others in the building.As a result of the massacre of young children in Newtown, Conn., Gov. Rick Snyder asked state officials for a school safety review and recommendations to deal with gaps.

The review may turn up other deficiencies, perhaps showing even more glaring problems.

If the drills have any usefulness at all -- and we believe that they do -- the law should be followed.